Homes don't always have to be where we shrink.

Sometimes the word "home"

Didn't take us back to just the place.

But it takes us back to our old roles.

Old memories, old ways of surviving.

And some of the identities we used to hide.

To still have an address in that system.

We may have once shrunk at home.

Talk less. Keep more feeling.

Be careful of words. Be careful of your eyes.

Be careful of being yourself too much.

Because once, the contraction

Probably used to be the way we best defended ourselves.

But to this day,

Maybe we're not going home to get back to being the same person.

We might go back to find that.

Ourselves today are not the same.

The house may still be the same house.

Same person, same story, same energy.

But we don't need to put ourselves

In the same position anymore.

The old chapter was once great in its system.

It used to be the whole world.

Used to be a rule. Used to be true.

It used to be something we had to adapt to survive.

But now

That old chapter could become just the remains of an old town.

That we can look at with respect.

Without going back to that old town.

We might appreciate it.

That once saved us.

But we don't need it to continue to shape our lives.

So the house may not always be where we have to shrink.

The house may have become the place where we most clearly saw that.

How far have we grown up?

And perhaps the deepest freedom

Not running away from home.

But maybe it's back to standing there.

In the same area. In front of the same roots.

And then no longer abandon our true identity.